


I love you a little less than before

by Elisexyz



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Implied/Referenced Violence, Season/Series 02, Temporary alliance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 16:29:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17450420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elisexyz/pseuds/Elisexyz
Summary: Of course, when door opens, there’s no daring rescue, just one of her captors throwing in a bloody— Grant Ward. Obviously. Because things canalwaysget worse. Fantastic.“Hey, Skye,” he grins at her with a split lip, as he gets fixed on a chair way too close to hers for her liking. “How’s life treating you?”





	I love you a little less than before

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Tumblr prompt: [80\. “How’s life treating you?” “Like I ran over it’s dog.” + Skyeward](http://heytheredeann.tumblr.com/post/182091653494/sarcasm-prompt-80-skyeward-pretty-please-d). Title from [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH0ObJh7vms).

For a second, when the door starts creaking way too early for it to be already time to eat or to go another round with the bastards, Skye dares hoping that things will finally take a turn for the better.

These people that have the _nerve_ to claim to represent SHIELD and yet operate no differently from every Hydra bastard that she’s ever met have tried to convince her that Coulson sold her out, but they’ll have to do much more than beating it into her for Skye to be persuaded that her team isn’t relentlessly looking for her right now.

Of course, when the door opens, there’s no daring rescue, just one of her captors throwing in a bloody— Grant Ward. Obviously. Because things can _always_ get worse. Fantastic.

“Hey, Skye,” he grins at her with a split lip, as he gets fixed on a chair way too close to hers for her liking. “How’s life treating you?”

“Like I ran over its dog, thanks for asking,” she says, drily. “Any chance you could get him another room?” she asks, sarcastically, but like most of her remarks it gets no more than a glance of acknowledgement.

“Ouch, that hurt,” Ward says, lightly, and Skye has to bite back a groan of frustration: not only she’s hurting all over, she has bled so much that she’s got used to the smell by now, she’s confident that she’s destroying her wrists and yet she’s not even close to getting out of those handcuffs, but now _Ward_ has joined the party. Why him of all damn people?

Soon enough, they are left alone, and Skye is pretty sure that she’s quickly going to start wishing for another interrogation just to get out of there.

“Aren’t you going to make some small talk?” Ward prompts, after a few seconds of tense silence.

Skye kindly removes her eyes from the door – which is a _much_ more pleasant sight than his dumb face, thank you very much – to glare at him. “Sure,” she says, tightly. “How does a supposedly expert spy end up bound to a chair in enemy territory?” she asks, but the attempt at attacking his pride doesn’t even make him flinch.

“They don’t,” he simply shrugs. Before Skye can ask what the hell he means by that, considering that he’s obviously in the same pile of crap she is in – the thought of merely having to share the same _air_ as him is disturbing and annoying –, she hears a loud and bone-chilling _crack_.

“What— was that _you_?” she asks, trying to fight off the uncomfortable feeling under her skin.

A few moments later, Ward’s handcuffs are hanging by his right wrist and he’s getting busy freeing his feet.

“They should know better than to use a pair of dumb handcuffs on a specialist,” he comments, smugly. Skye is still a little busy trying to get that horrible _crack_ out of her head. “Don’t worry, I’ll be with you in a minute.”

His stupid patronizing tone like she’s still some damn rookie in need of his life lessons is what wakes her up, and pretty fast.

“I don’t _need_ your help,” she automatically protests, although it takes only a few moments for her to realize that _maybe_ she could set aside her morals for a few minutes and get out of there.

Ward or the ‘Real SHIELD’, which is her worst option? Good question.

“That’s too bad, because that’s exactly why I came here and I’m not going back to Coulson empty-handed,” he comments, standing up and taking a quick look around to check for cameras – there are none visible, Skye knows as much, but she avoids doing him the courtesy of sharing that piece of information.

“What? Coulson?” she echoes, pretty sceptical and with every reason to be. Ward is the last person that Coulson would send _anywhere_ , with the obvious exception of a hole in the ground where he could die a slow lonely death, there’s no way that he’s actually there on her team’s behalf.

“Yup,” Ward simply comments, still inspecting the room. “He needed someone expendable _and_ skilled enough to get out of restraints without much trouble.”

“And I’m supposed to think that you did this out of the goodness of your heart?” she asks, raising her eyebrows.

Ward goes back to looking at her, smiling pleasantly. “All he had to do was ask, believe it or not.”

“Or not,” Skye mumbles.

How many chances are there that he’s telling the truth? They’ve been very short-staffed since this mess with the other SHIELD blew up, they have been spending a lot of time underground and it _has_ been a while since she was captured, is it possible that Coulson was desperate enough to ask Ward for help? Yes, it’s possible. But still not too likely.

She can’t trust him as far as she can throw him, that’s for sure, whether Coulson is involved in all this or not.

But maybe she can _use_ him – the way _he_ used them all, it’s almost poetic – to escape her unfortunate situation and just knock him out and leave him on the ground when she’s out of there.

“Alright, here—” he says, before literally _spitting_ _out_ a paperclip. A damn _paperclip_. In his mouth. Come _on_.

“That’s— so gross,” she comments, sending him the most disgusted look that she can come up with – well, considering that she’s looking at the face of a traitorous Nazi it’s not difficult at all, he just inspires that general feeling in people with so-called _morals_.

“You’re welcome,” he simply comments, moving behind her, presumably to remove the handcuffs. The whole time he’s crutched behind her, she’s tense, holding her breath and almost expecting a figurative or literal stab in the back, but in the end there’s a click and the handcuffs come off.

“You’re going to need someone to take a look at those wrists,” he comments, coming up in front of her with a stupidly _concerned_ frown on his face. Fuck him, he doesn’t _get_ to be concerned after everything he did. “And at your face. Is there any major damage? Can you pull off an escape?”

Her wrists burn like hell, but she resists the urge to massage them or check the extension of the damage, and when she bends down to undo the ropes around her ankles she has to suppress an hiss of pain – if she had to guess, she’d say they cracked a couple of ribs.

“Of course I can,” she simply says. “I’m fine.” No need to let the enemy know you are not at your best. He seems a bit banged up as well, but it all looks pretty superficial and, much as she hates to admit it, he has more experience, he’s more _skilled_ , she would be at a disadvantage even if she were unharmed. No need to let him know how much the stakes are in his favour right now.

Ward seems a little sceptical, but she soon stops looking at him and he doesn’t say anything about it.

It’s a few moments later when he speaks: “Good, because—” There’s an explosion that makes the walls and the floor tremble, and Skye’s head automatically shoots up. “That’s our cue,” Ward announces. “Ready?”

He’s grinning at her with complicity and offering a hand for her to get up. She ignores it, standing up on her own and – she thinks – rather successfully preventing any sign of the subsequent pain from showing up on her face.

“Lead the way,” she simply says. If she’s doing something as stupid as following Ward out of an enemy base like he’s not a snake, at the very least she’s going to avoid turning her back on him.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including: 
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> If you don’t want a reply, for any reason, feel free to sign your comment with “whisper” and I will appreciate it but not respond!


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